By Charles Ogwo
No higher institution of learning in Africa’s most populous country was listed in the top 10 rankings of universities in 2024, a recent data from EduRank shows.
EduRank, a top source for social media analytics in the education sector, has published the list of its top 10 universities in Africa for 2024.
According to the information on the organisation’s website, the ratings of the best universities in Africa were based on research outputs, non-academic prominence, and alumni influence.
It added that the rankings are determined after it analysed 24.5 million citations received by 2.16 million academic publications made by 1,104 universities from Africa.
The top-ranked Nigerian institution is the University of Ibadan (UI), which is ranked 13 in Africa and1057 in the world. The University of Lagos (UNILAG) emerged 23 in Africa and 1,431 globally.
The best university in Africa according to the ranking released by EduRank is the University of Cape Town.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) was founded in 1829 as the South African College, a high school for boys. The college had a small tertiary-education facility that grew substantially after 1880.
Second on the list is the University of the Witwatersrand also from South Africa.
The University of Witwatersrand is situated in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its history is linked to mining, political and civic activism, and the development of Johannesburg.
The University of Stellenbosch or better still Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa is third on the list.
It is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the earliest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Saharan Africa, together with the UCT – which received full university status on the same day in 1918.
The University of Pretoria (UP) is fourth on the log. The University of Pretoria in South Africa is one of the continent’s top universities and reportedly the largest contact higher education institution in South Africa.
The university said it produces socially-impactful research to find solutions for the world’s most pressing issues.
The fifth best university in 2024 is Cairo University in Egypt. Cairo University is usually ranked among the best universities in Egypt, and one of the best in Africa. The institution has a reputation for excellence in medical education and research.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) sits sixth in the table of best 10 universities in Africa. The UKZN in South Africa, offers nearly 2,000 academic programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It is reportedly the third most productive university in the country in terms of research output.
The Makerere University, Kampala in Uganda comes seventh in the list. The university which began as a technical school in 1922, was the first major institution of higher learning in East and Central Africa.
In addition to its medical school, Makerere’s facilities include those of agriculture and forestry, arts, education, technology, law, and science.
The best eight universities in Africa is the University of Nairobi in Kenya. The University of Nairobi, is a collegiate research institution. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent university until 1970.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) in South Africa is placed ninth in the continent. This tertiary institution is said to be one of the largest comprehensive contact universities in the South African region. The institution has a student population of over 50,000, of which more than 3000 are international students from 80 countries.
The University of South Africa (UNISA) completes the list of best top 10 universities in Africa as published by EduRank in 2024.
The University of South Africa is an open-learning institution. Per a piece of information on its website, the school is a dedicated distance education university in the world.
According to information from the website, EduRank conducts a series of statistical analyses to generate comparative university rankings in various fields, by country, region, and globally.
